In 1981, when George Owens bought a 50-acre addition to his family farm near Chipley, Fla., it didn't take him long to realize times were changing.
"It became clear to me then that it was not economically feasible to grow row crops or run any single-income enterprise anymore," he says. "That's why I went to silvopasture. I wanted to find a way to get multiple incomes off the same piece of property."
His hope was that a combination of timber and cattle would help to even out income. When livestock prices were down, for example, timber prices might be up. In Owens' opinion it was just a common-sense way to even the odds a little.
It turns out he was right. In 1998, calves were 80 cents a pound. Pulpwood was $13 a ton; sawtimber was $55 a ton. In 2004, calves were $1.40 a pound. Pulpwood was at $6 a ton; sawtimber was $45 a ton.
Owens started the venture in December 1984, with a call to his local NRCS office for guidance. The technicians helped him set up a system of two rows of trees that were 8 feet apart with a 40-foot space before the next two rows. From there he developed a plan (see sidebar) that cost about $100 an acre for the trees and $35 to $40 for the pasture.
Rotational grazing lets him keep cattle there from early February through fall. The cattle eat the bahiagrass down so clover can come up. In the winter he moves cattle to a nearby farm to graze on winter annuals.
With this system, Owens often avoids hay feeding, instead supplementing the cows with a hot mix of 60% meal and 40% salt.
Silvopasture systems are first rate at capturing runoff from pastures, whether it's nitrogen from cattle manure or commercial fertilizer. That's because, as Owens explains, "You get a double uptake of nutrients. You get uptake at the grass root level, 1 to 6 inches deep. Then there's uptake at the tree root level, which can be up to 3 feet deep."
Best of all, while the cattle are grazing, the trees are growing. His target is the high-dollar veneer and sawtimber market.
"Big trees mean big bucks," he says. "But the good news is you don't have to wait 20 or 25 years for that timber to mature to have income off the land. It doesn't have to be cows or trees. You can have both. Silvopasture is a win-win situation."